Abstract
This chapter traces the history of the scholarly work of faculty with special attention
given to my work on the Carnegie Report Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the
Professoriate and the advances that have been made (and not) since its publication in
1990. Topics considered include the scholarship of engagement, tensions between the
collegial culture and the managerial culture, and the need to develop a change strategy
that is transformative and not just a continuation of the incremental approach. How
we build on the scholarly strengths of our pasts, symbolically represented by Athens
and Berlin, while organizing in new ways for a diverse, growing, transnational world
represented in the challenges of LA is at the heart of this analysis
Key Words: Scholarly Work; Carnegie Foundation Report; Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning; Scholarship of Engagement
In searching for an image that would best catch the future role of
faculty in a changing, vibrant democracy, I—following the lead of
Ralph Waldo Emerson—have often referred to “the new American
scholar.” (1996) That vision now has lost its resonance; the image has
been seriously tarnished in the new global environment and become
restricting. In probing for an alterative I have turned to Los Angeles,
not because LA is an American city, but because it is an international—
a transnational—city. LA is, as the University of Southern California
boasts on its Web page, a “global city, the city of the future of the
planet.” One visit and you are struck by the rich, pulsating diversity—
a stimulating cultural mosaic. But LA is also the template for
unplanned, sprawling, privatized growth; it is denigrated as the city
with the largest number of backyard swimming pools and the smallest
R.P. Perry and J.C. Smart (eds.), The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective, 11–21.
© 2007 Springer.
11Rice: Faculty Scholarship and the Changing Academy
number of public parks. A city on the verge of gridlock, the City of
Angels is the place to encounter examples of the world’s best music,
art, and architecture. LA represents the kind of dramatic change and
promise the academy of the future will be called upon to address
and serve.
In examining the role of faculty in the new academy, I want
to underscore the significance of the changes taking place. Faculty,
particularly, are prone to dismiss the changes they see coming as
cyclical—“we’ve seen that before”—and minimize their impact. I then
want to address our approach to change. The additive or incremental
approach to reform will no longer suffice; a more transformative way
of thinking about faculty work is required. It is important to build
on the strengths of our past—symbolized here by references to the
contributions of Athens and Berlin—while simultaneously exploring
new ways to organize faculty work for the future—symbolized by LA